Sanguis Vita Est
by ShadyWriting
Summary: Niklaus Mikaelson, one of the monarchs of the vampire underworld, takes Caroline as his blood servant. She is just a means to an end; an instrument of revenge. She will serve him with both her body and her blood until every ounce of life is drained from her. But as the war between humans and vampires rages on he never expected that she could bring such light into his darkness. DARK
1. i : Age of Revelation

_**Sanguis vita est**_

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_**Summary :**_

_Niklaus Mikaelson, one of the patriarchs of the vampire race, takes Caroline to be his blood servant. She is just a means to an end, an instrument of revenge. She will serve him with her body and her blood until there is no breath inside of her left. But as the war between humans and vampires rages he never expected that a girl could bring such light into his darkness. Dark story. _

**_Please read the warnings first._**

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**Warnings:** This story contains mature adult descriptions. Strictly M rated. It is going to be a very dark story with violence, gore, abuse, rape, slave/master and non consensual themes.

Please heed the warnings!

*This story will contain multiple abusive themes and relationships based on that. Eventually it will be a "love" story but Stockholm syndrome will also be addressed. Caroline is a victim (not as a character but as a woman who is subjected to an abusive horror) and Klaus is an abuser and a psychotic personality in this story and those facts are not going to be sugarcoated or ignored. All the above will also influence the progress and the ending of the story.

Keep the warnings in mind!

- At first I wanted to write a story about human slavery and human trafficking but as the idea progressed I felt more comfortable writing a supernatural story that involves completely fantastic characters that don't exist in reality; even though such situations (as slavery, abduction, abuse, rape etc) unfortunately do happen daily. I am a big klaroline fan so I merged my idea with this couple so here is the story. Take notice that I don't plan and I won't try to romanticize any controversial aspects or glorify horrifying acts.

**If anyone is offended by such themes and cannot cope with reading such stories I would highly advise against reading this story.**

You have been warned.

P.s _ This chapter includes M rated themes such as **abuse, violence, slavery, rape and murder**.

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_**Story facts:**_

In this story the world is divided between humans and vampires.

Monarchy is bestowed upon the vampire world. The Originals and the councils are the highest order. Their laws are unbreakable and undisputed. Any disobedience is punishable by death.

Until recently the vampires were creatures that existed only in legends. Now they have been exposed and a war between humans and vampires has begun.

In this story the Originals are a lot older than 1000 years.

Also vampires here are dark sadistic creatures. They crave for blood and human suffering. Most of them have no respect or any kind of sensitivity when it comes to humans. They are cruel and unforgiving. They are dangerous and they are treating humans savagely. For they are the hunters and humans are the prey.

This is an AU story.

Enjoy!

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**Chapter one: Age of Revelation**

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_"The news of the century! Do vampires exist?"_

_"Thousands of dead corpses emerging"_

_"Grayed corpses with ...fangs!"_

_" 'People' dropping dead all over the planet!"_

_"Scientists uncertain. New species or old ones?"_

_"The government remains silent, world in chaos, do monsters walk among us?"_

"_Age of revelation. We live in a world of vampires!"_

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News spread all over the world like wild fire. After the revelation night the world changed. Humans realized that they were not alone. Monsters walked among them for centuries. Nightmares were coming to life.

And with the realization a new terrifying reality came along and there was only one question that needed to be answered.

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"_How can we protect ourselves from them?"_

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**September 2011. New York.**

_**Revelation Night.**_

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She was trying to scream but she could not. His eyes still burned deep into her mind numbing all of her senses. All she could feel was fire spreading to her whole body. He was a monster!

His eyes gleamed into darkness and he had...fangs!

Fangs that were buried deep into her skin sucking her blood. Her life.

She wanted to scream. God she wanted to scream. But she couldn't.

Her body was pinned into the dirty brick wall of the alley behind the club. People danced and laughed inside and she was outside into the night dying.

The cold air hit her naked skin as the monster dug his fingers deeper into her skin and his sharp teeth sank deeper into her neck.

She could hear him gulping her own life down as she felt faint.

Her whole body was throbbing with pain. And then all stopped. The pain was there but not as blinding as before and he was on his knees in front of her.

He was spitting her blood from his mouth. He was screaming in pain holding his dark haired head and she was just watching unable to speak or move.

They had been flirting in the club and then he took her out. He fucked her against the wall. He was a savage as he tore her clothes and shoved her against the wall. He was brutal as he plunged into her and after a point it all became too much. She couldn't stand the pain as his cock ripped into her with inhuman strength and speed. She was horrified as she saw his eyes changing. Black veins forming against pale skin that circled blood shot irises. He then turned her around and took her from behind with even more force than before. No human could inflict such pain she had thought as his hands cracked her hip bones.

She had tried to pull away, to scream, to make him stop but she couldn't. His hand covered her mouth and she couldn't yell. She was biting him but he was laughing and then in less than seconds his movements became supernaturally frantic and he came hard inside of her making her wish to be dead.

Watch what you wish for they say. After all was done she couldn't help but think that whoever said that was right.

When he got out of her a pool of blood covered her bruised thighs. She wanted to scream but then his eyes bore into hers.

"You won't speak, you won't move!"

She didn't want to do what he said but she had no choice. Her whole mind screamed for her to resist but she found herself repeating his words.

"I won't speak, I won't move"

And then he tore into her neck with shiny gleaming teeth. So sharp and deadly. They seemed like...fangs!

It was impossible but he was feeding on her blood. And she couldn't speak or move. All she could feel was fear and her death approaching fast.

And now he was kneeled before her screaming in pain.

His screams died in the night as his skin grayed and then he dropped dead on the ground.

She shivered and then she finally could move.

She was losing blood from her ripped off neck and her destroyed genitals; her bones were broken and she could hardly breathe but she could move. She could finally move.

And if she could move then she could also speak.

Then she could also scream and so she did.

She dropped on her knees next to her rapist's corpse. She screamed with all her strength until there was no voice left.

A vampire she thought as she fainted. She was half dead next to…_ a dead vampire._

Her screams ended but she was not the only one screaming. In the whole world, in each and every corner of each continent thousands vampires dropped dead and people screamed at their sight.

The night and day of the revelation.

The moment that changed everything.

The moment when legends and bedtime stories became a dark reality.

The world was not the same place any more. No one was safe anymore.

Vampires were real. No one knew how or why but they were real. And they were dropping dead all over the world.

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**September 2013. **

**New Orleans. French Quarter. **

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For ages the upper world continued its course into absolute unawareness while in the underworld the creatures of the night roamed.

An unwritten law that was placed upon vampires for centuries. Humans consisted the upper world and vampires the underworld.

Vampires would have to remain hidden and never to reveal their existence. Many objected to that rule but no one could break it. For millenniums this was the way of the undead.

As time progressed they created their own society. Their laws written in blood. _Scripta manent_ Elijah always said and he was right. So a millennium ago as the world became, or at least attempted to become, a more civilized place their councils were created and their commandments were written in scrolls with blood ink. Laws decided by the eldest ones. By the patriarchs and the matriarchs of the Vampire species. By the Originals.

Their laws were written in detail and were extensive. An order was set. An order that reflected the ruthlessness of their kind and their sadistic nature that was nurtured in ages of blood and carnage.

Many of their laws concerned their relationships with each other but the most austere ones concerned their relationships with the humans.

One was certain. The general human population had to remain unaware of their existence.

Vampires belonged to the night. Humans belonged to the sun. And the night and the sun never met each other. _No matter what._

The rules were clear and unbreakable. Exposure would have to be avoided at any cost. For the oldest have lived in a time were humans knew of their existence and they still remembered that a war between humans and vampires caused many losses and blood for each kind.

In time they had covered their tracks and they made humans forget. They became fairytales and creatures that lingered only in illusions. They severed themselves from the human knowledge and kept their distance from the public eye.

It was known though that vampires could not survive without blood and therefore they depended on humans.

Some vampires nowadays fed on blood bags but most of them remained loyal to the old ways.

Many vampires would feed on humans and then compel them to forget or would get reed of the dead bodies while making sure to hide any signs that would expose vampires to the world.

_But there was also another way to go._

A way that didn't match with the civilized age and yet it still thrived amongst them. Most of them didn't belong in this time and in this way of social thinking anyway. Most of them were born in an age where masters and slaves existed.

And thus this law still took place and effect quite often.

Each vampire had the right to claim human servants. The higher the vampire's position into the hierarchy the more servants he could have. In the old days they used to call them slaves. Now they were called blood servants.

According to the law the vampire would have to present the servant to his jurisdiction's council and ask for their permission to own that person as his property. Once the council gave its permission the human would entirely belong to his new master. After branding his new possession the vampire could use the servant that belonged to him at will. No other could lay a hand upon the human or make any decisions that concerned him.

According to the law the vampire would have to train the servant and make sure that the human would be completely detached from his past live and would now behave under their law. As the human's master the vampire would have to attend to the servant's needs for as long the human would remain alive. Of course the length of the servant's life would now be decided by his master but there was a time limit where the servant would have to remain alive. One month. For one month the human would have to remain alive and then be presented to the council again in order to verify his vitality. After that the vampire master could dispose the servant if he wished it so.

The vampire who decided to keep a servant had some responsibilities though. He had to make sure that the human would get accustomed to the new reality of his existence. The notions of the human ways would have to be deleted from the servant's mind. When a human entered the vampire world then all ties with the upper world would have to be severed. Many vampires most of the times would erase their humans' past memories through mind control and would compel them to forget the lived they had before they became servants or would just compel them to never contact anyone again. Some others were talking more drastic measures. They killed the human's families and connections thus severing all ties once and for all.

The servants now existed solely for one reason. To serve and obey their masters and nothing else. Their blood, bodies and services belonged to their vampire lords. Their freedom gone and their reality forever changed. Most of the times forever wouldn't last more than a month anyway and their misery was coming to an end. But in their time of servitude they had to completely obey their masters, if not they would get punished. And it was common knowledge that vampires were enjoying inflicting pain to others. Especially to humans.

Many humanitarian vampires were appalled by this law but in reality it kept many bloodthirsty vampires in check. It sated their need to seek and destroy (and to be a potential risk of exposure during those ventures) as the existence of a servant meant that the vampire master had a plaything to keep him busy.

One way or another it all came down to one thing. Vampires needed humans but they also needed to keep their identities and true natures hidden.

The human world would have to remain unaware of the existence of the vampire species. Once a vampire would take a human either as a victim or as a servant then he would have to erase all traces that would lead back to them. No one should ever link the human deaths and disappearances with the supernatural element. Whoever did then would simply have to die.

If a vampire was to ever break the rules then torturous death was coming to claim him.

There was also the matter of turning. Things were not as simple nowadays as they used to be. It was a risk to turn people that would not be able to adjust to vampirism and obey the law.

In these days a human could be turned only if the one of the councils or if the Originals allowed it. And for the last decades only the most trusted and those that could survive certain trials were made into one of them.

This way their kind has learned to adapt and survive into the modern world.

Their laws were strict and unbreakable but insured a certain balance.

_Until all was ruined._

Now their laws hanged in the balance. It wasn't easy collecting humans anymore and it wasn't easy going out to the world without being recognized as an abomination or hunted down by the human patrol and the mercenary hunters.

The night of the revelation as the humans called it changed everything.

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The golden glass shattered under the force of his fingers and broke into thousand crystal shards. The memory of what happened still regenerated rage inside of him and made the beast retaliate and demand blood and destruction. Things that he would have even if he had to bring a new order in the underworld.

Now the upper world was at chaos. For two years now. War was coming and no one was going to stop it. Most definitely not him. If anything now it was their time to rise and claim what was rightfully theirs and belonged to them. To take control and most importantly revenge.

A new dawn was rising. The time for the vampires to take what was theirs by right and blood. They would no longer hide in the shadows and linger in the dark. Humans would finally learn their place. To serve them with their lives and blood.

And he knew exactly how to set all of this into motion. With one strategically unexpected move that would take his enemy by surprise and would force him to act prematurely.

He sat on his throne inside the expansive room. Behind him tapestries and banners covered the black marble wall. His sovereignty in this region was undisputed. Behind him was his sigil. The wolf in blood. This was his domain. In his borders all obeyed and feared him. No matter what his brethren said he would take his vengeance. He wasn't known as the most hated and fearsome of the Originals for nothing after all.

The temperature in the throne room was below of what a human could handle and the girl that was kneelling beside his intricate throne was shivering under the thin see through lace garment she was forced to wear. Puncture wounds covered her skin all over the place. He could hear her labored breath.

Maybe it was time to take her out of her misery but she was a borrowed gift and she was branded as one of his lieutenant's blood servants. That meant that by vampire law that he and his family had bestowed upon their race he could not kill the girl without her master's approval.

He sighed. All those restrictions were boring him.

He looked at the shivering girl and tried to imagine how much fun he was going to have in the next days.

He hadn't taken a human as a slave ever since the middle ages. He was not into that anymore truth to be told. Feeding them and clothing them was quite tiresome after a point and he remembered that most of the times he used to forget their needs and then they would finally wither and die from hunger and thirst. That of course for those that didn't instantly die on him when he fed on them.

He was so different from almost all of his siblings in that department.

Rebekah and Finn were always so fond of their human pets.

They only branded the willing humans they wanted under their protection and no one could place a finger on them after that. They were using the law to their advantage in order to cover their weakness. He knew that lately Rebekah had fallen for her latest servant and she was keeping him always near her. It was disgusting that in reality it was Rebekah that was serving the human and not the other way around.

Finn and Sage branded humans that considered them to be their friends and confidants.

Elijah on the other hand has never branded a human. Not even once. His love for humanity prevented him from doing that. He had so much respect for those pathetic creatures that aimed to destroy them.

Centuries ago the vampire species thrived and multiplied. They were fearsome and now humans were daring to rise against them.

They had taken out one of them and his siblings expected from him to stay silent and stoic while the humans organized against them.

Kol was gone and they did nothing about it!

His chest rose and fell in anger.

He looked at the trembling girl.

"Come here sweetheart," he ordered.

The girl stood and came to him carefully avoiding the broken glass on the floor but also keeping her eyes on him and not wasting any time.

She was barefoot, scantily clothed with a short dress that left nothing to the imagination. The fabric was made from see through lace and she wore no underwear.

He took her by her cold hand and placed her upon his lap.

Her skin was now pale blue and her teeth chattered. He felt disgusted. There had been millenniums since he had felt any human weakness. He didn't even remember what it felt like to be this weak. He enjoyed being superior, strong, a force of nature.

"What are you offering love?" he asked her in a false soothing voice.

"Whatever you desire my lord," she whispered trying to keep her voice loud enough despite the fact that she could barely move her lips.

Klaus removed the strap of her skimpy garment on her right shoulder and the lace fell from the girl's icy skin in soft ripples. He looked at her and gestured for her to remove the left strap on her own. She did exactly that.

Her breasts were now exposed and her nipples were hard from the cold. His fingers played with one of the taunted nipples causing pain to the girl. But she remained silent. She was already trained and from what he knew his lieutenant's servants were prime examples of obedience once he was finished with their training.

Under the dim lights the silver piercing with the diamond letters in her belly button shined. The diamond letters formed the initials of her master's name. His other hand circled her waist and his fingers there played with the piercing. He tugged at the cold metal and felt the goosebumps that spread on the girl's body.

The more he cruelly rubbed the sensitive skin of her nipple and the harder he pulled the piercing the more her blood was coming to life inside her frozen body. He didn't crave to have sex with a mindless slave nor force a woman to satisfy his needs but in his raging with fury mind there was another girl in her place right now. One that he would love to taint and break.

Once he heard the girl's blood pumping into her veins again he brutally sank his teeth into her neck.

He drank her blood as his fingers bruised more of her skin. She whimpered and he drank more. Her blood was stale but it had to do for now.

He tried to imagine what it would be like to inflict pain to the daughter of the man he hated. In his mind it was her that was in his hands right now. In his mind he was hurting _her_.

His plans were set in motion and soon he would have his own _servus sanguineum _to play and taunt. To make her suffer and cry in pain.

A servant that would serve a much greatest purpose than just obeying him. She would be an instrument. By becoming his she would be a pawn that would inflict pain and suffering to his enemies. And with her death a debt would be repaid.

"Niklaus!"

His brother's voice boomed into the room and Klaus looked at him over the servant's neck.

He took his fangs from the girl's flesh and he harshly removed her from his lap.

Her naked feet connected with the broken glass that was spread on the floor, from the tumbler Klaus had broken minutes before, and she tried to hold her moans of pain back. There was also alcohol on the broken pieces of glass that were now embedded in her skin and they burned like fire. Such a thing should have been welcomed into the frozen cold she had to endure but now it only caused more pain. She hurriedly went to her former place and knelt down as this was the proper posture for the servants when they were in the presence of vampires. Even more so of vampires that were royalty as were the Originals. She didn't make a move to cover her exposed breasts because she wasn't instructed to do so.

"Hello brother," Klaus greeted Elijah with a bored tone.

"What have you done Niklaus?" Elijah accused him.

"Always greeting me in such pleasant ways Elijah," he mocked his older brother.

"What have you done?" his brother insisted looking angry. His expression grim.

"As of lately brother? Many things actually, in which century are you referring to?" he innocently asked as he carelessly hung one of his legs at his throne's armrest.

"You cannot take the general's daughter as your servant!" Elijah basically ordered him while trying to make him see reason.

Klaus remained impassive for a moment. News travelled fast between the regions. Obviously Stefan had a big mouth.

But what enraged him more was his brother's audacity! His belief that he could control and order him around!

"YOU DARE TELL ME WHAT I CAN DO BROTHER?" he hollered.

"It is against our laws Niklaus!" Elijah persisted without losing his calm.

Klaus picked himself up and flashed with supernatural speed in front of his brother in rage. How dare he threaten him with the rules that THEY created? With the rules _HE_ created! They were above the humans, they could make new rules if they had too. He would make sure of that!

"What rules? We have already been exposed! Do you even remember how it happened?" he yelled at the face of his brother.

Elijah's eyes shone with torment and regret at the painful memory. Of course he remembered. No one of them would ever be able to forget.

"We need to maintain a form of balance Niklaus. Such rush actions will bring us into a worst predicament than we already are," Elijah said somberly.

Klaus took some steps back and spread his arms wide open.

"We are above them brother. Let them come and let us wait for them!" he exclaimed. The bells of war already ringing in his ears.

"You are making a mistake brother. It is against the rules!" Elijah said once again looking appalled.

Klaus looked at him and put his hands down. Elijah and his damn rules!

Then he smirked deviously and turned his head to the half naked girl that was kneeling next to his throne.

He extended his hand towards her and called her to come to him.

"Come here love," he ordered in a seductive tone.

Elijah saw the girl standing up. She was obviously cold and in pain. Blood was flowing from her neck and was painting her naked skin red.

She went in front of his brother and placed her trembling hand into his brother's open palm.

Niklaus gently brought her closer to him and then shoved her between them.

He looked at him as he played with the open bleeding wounds on the girl's neck. She flinched but stayed motionless as Klaus licked his bloody fingers and then her neck with pleasure.

Elijah couldn't help her but at least he knew that Klaus wouldn't kill her. She wasn't his servant, she belonged to another.

"Rules are meant to be broken Elijah," Klaus said locking his eyes with his own and in a swift move he snapped the girl's neck.

Her lifeless body dropped on the floor with a thud, her eyes open and vacant.

He looked at Klaus without showing how upset he truly was as he now understood that his brother would be no longer playing by the book. There was no stopping him. The beast has been set free and there were no holdings able to detain it.

Klaus placed his hand on his shoulder in a brotherly gesture.

"War is coming brother and you better pick the right side," Klaus said and left him alone to stare at the servant's body that was lying dead on the cold floor.

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**Mystic Falls. Virginia. **

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**Cemetery**

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"_**We fight because we believe."**_

The sun was setting and the orange circle casted its faint purplish glow all around the trees and the tombstones while she stood in front of the gravestone.

Night was falling and yet once again she found herself at the cemetery staring at her best friend's grave. Probably not the best place to be in times like these but she couldn't help herself.

Elena Gilbert had died three years ago at the age of sixteen and she still couldn't believe that her best friend was dead. She had died in a car accident. The car exploded while she was inside. Not even her remains could be salvaged.

Everything changed after that. In her mind Elena was part of her life and she would continue to be so until they would be old and wrinkled and would both tell stories of their youth to their grandchildren. And yet Elena wasn't with her anymore.

But the losses didn't stop there. Bonnie had disappeared two years ago just after the revelation.

No one could find her and all searches were in vain. Many believed that she was one of the many vampire victims that became casualty of war. But she didn't want to believe that. She still forced herself to believe that Bonnie was somewhere out there, safe and happy and for some reason she didn't want to be found. But she was okay. She had to be.

Deep in her heart she couldn't believe that she had lost Bonnie too. Everything changed so drastically in the last years. She remembered how carefree she used to be but after losing both of her friends she was left all alone. The shallow girl had vanished and in its place a new Caroline was left mourning for the loss of the people she loved.

Now she was left all alone. No one cared and she felt that she was not good enough for anyone. There was a deep hole in her heart that swallowed everything. Not even her parents cared for what was truly happening to her.

Her father had returned back to Mystic Falls a few months after the night of the revelation. He became mayor and later a general for the Government. He was one of the generals that organized their defenses against the vampires.

Later on her mother became part of the HPAV. The Human Patrol Against Vampires.

She still couldn't believe what was happening to the world. It seemed surreal. Like an unbelievable story from a cheap horror novel.

At first she couldn't believe that vampires existed. Many still didn't believe it to be true but now she knew better. After her father returned he and her mother revealed to her that they knew about the existence of vampires long before the revelation. They told her that in Mystic Falls there was a secret council and both of them were part of it ever since their youth. She already knew about the Founders council but she could have never even suspected that it was created in order to protect the town against vampires. Her parents have told her that for many centuries vampires have been coming and going in Mystic Falls causing havoc. In 1864 after certain events, that they didn't clarify to her, the council was constituted in order to protect the town against any returning vampires.

And for years both of her parents were part of that council. Once the existence of vampires became common knowledge many similar councils all over the world revealed themselves to the government. Towns like Mystic Falls and every other that had similar organizations became central points. There were now military camps all over town, constant patrolling, certain regulations and a curfew. Vampires couldn't get inside someone's home if they were not invited in so the curfew dictated that at sunset all civilians had to return to the security of their homes and stay there until dawn.

She had to admit that she was never following those rules. Most of the times like tonight she would ignore the curfew or later at nights she would jump out of the window and she would come probably here again.

Living in such conditions made her feel like she was in a prison or something. It didn't make her feel safe. It made her feel like she was suffocating.

Besides all the guards in town and every member of the patrol knew her and protected her personally since she was the daughter of General Bill Forbes and of the HPAV Sheriff Liz Forbes. Many times when she would go out they would follow her close behind and that made her angry as hell. She was already wearing her vervain jewelry and she was drinking copious amount of vervain daily. Even her perfume and soap had vervain in it. For God's sake she was carrying wooden stakes with her! And the town was heavily guarded. It seemed more of a concentration camp than a town anyway. She would be okay!

She looked at the gravestone down at the dirt. She had already left fresh flowers on it.

"_**We fight because we believe." **_

Those were the words carved on stone. The only problem was that she didn't know what to believe anymore.

She sighed. She looked at the sky. Darkness was now looming all around her and the moon was rising. She had to go home but then again no one was there. She barely ever saw her parents anymore. They had too many responsibilities that prevented them from even caring about her.

"I miss you Elena," she whispered and turned to leave.

She went to her parked car and while she was searching for her keys she thought she heard a noise coming from behind her.

She bit her lip and grabbed her keys harder and then she heard someone moaning. She looked around. Nothing. No one was there. The street lights on the other side flickered and she took an uncertain step back.

Her first instinct was to get in her car and drive away. But what if someone was hurt? Most of the town strictly followed the curfew timeline but many teenagers didn't. What if one of them was out there and was hurt?

She looked around. Behind her was the cemetery and in front of her trees and the open road. All seemed eerily abandoned and dark.

She heard moaning again. Like someone was in pain.

She opened her bag and took a stake out and followed the noise. She walked some distance until she found herself meters away from her car.

As she took some steps she saw a police vehicle behind some trees. The driver's door was open, the lights were off and from what she could see no one was there.

She took some more steps and went towards the car. Her heart started beating faster and faster. She could swear someone was there behind the trees. Stupid. What she was doing was stupid!

She finally went to the car with as much caution as she could and realized that indeed no one was there. She also realized that usually the patrol team was coming in groups. The police car was abandoned and no one else was there or even anywhere near.

She had to get of there!

She heard a soft crack behind like someone had stepped on a branch. She abruptly turned, her golden locks falling in front of her face.

"Hello?" she called frightened, "Is anyone there?"

Her voice slightly trembled and she held the stake closer to her chest. It was probably nothing but right now she was thinking that coming here was not one of her brightest ideas.

As she took a step back she stumbled on something and fell.

She hit her face on the muddy ground and she tried to pick herself up feeling dizzy. The stake had fell from hands during her impact with the dirt and was now out of reach.

She had scratched her hands and knees. Blood was oozing from the scratches.

What was that? Did she fell on a rock?

But then she looked at her hands and all around her.

_Blood. Blood was everywhere. _

_A pool of blood. Sticky and mixed with the mud._

_Blood!_

Her eyes opened wide. She looked behind her and saw that she had stumbled over a hand. A man was lying on the ground half covered in blood and mud. He was dead. She knew him. He was one her mom's officers. His eyes were looking into space. No life inside them. There were opening bloody holes on his neck.

_Vampires!_

She screamed and crawled away. She had to get out of there. To run.

She heard a whooshing sound. She didn't lose any time. She got up and started running.

She ran as fast as she could. She had to get out of there. She had to go home. To make it to the car.

She could do it!

Noises were coming closer to her.

She could feel someone…or _something_ following her. Stalking her. Waiting for the right moment to attack her.

She reached her car but her keys were nowhere to be found. She must have dropped them with the stake. Tears fell from her face as she yelled for help and grabbed the handle of her door and with irrational frantic movements tried to open the locked door.

She was about to break the window when she saw a shadow reflecting on it.

She screamed as she felt a hand throwing her on her car with a force that cut her breath. The next thing she felt was strong fingers grabbing her from her hair and shoving her head on the car window. As her scalp collided with the glass excruciating pain spread all over her head like a bolt of lightning.

_And then there was nothing... _

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**Author's note: **Sorry for any mistakes but English is not my native language. No beta.

Hopefully you liked the first chapter. Klaus and Caroline meet in the next chapter.

Tell me what you think.


	2. ii : Miles to go before we sleep (Pt 1)

___*Please before reading the chapter read the warnings first._

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**Warnings: **___This story contains mature adult descriptions. Strictly M rated. It is going to be a very dark story with violence, gore, abuse, rape, slave/master and non consensual themes._

**This chapter includes**___: Violence, abuse, murder, nudity, mild profanity, slavery, dehumanization and degradation acts._

*****If anyone is offended by such themes and cannot cope with reading such stories I would highly advise against reading this story.**

You have been warned.

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**Story facts:**

- In this story the world is divided between humans and vampires. War has began between the species.

- Monarchy is bestowed upon the vampire world. The Originals and the councils are the highest order. Their laws are unbreakable and undisputed. Any disobedience is punishable by death.

- Humans are treated by the vampires as slaves.

- In this story the Originals are a lot older than 1000 years. The Originals never specifically reveal their age but it is well known to the vampire community that they have been present -at least- ever since the Roman era.

- The doppelgänger story is also different and is adjusted with the timeline of this story. The first doppelgänger was not Tatia in this story but Iona.

- The story of Katherine and Elena is also different.

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*Many thanks to CorruptedBarbie for editing the summary of the story.

_Author's notice at the end._

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**Chapter 2 | Part one: **

**Miles to go before we sleep : **_Going through hell is the only way to meet the devil_

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The world was coming to life and then it was vanishing from existence. This was happening again and again. She was feeling pain and the cold was too much for her to bear. She was fainting and coming back to life as she felt people dragging her around. Or was it her imagination?

The only constant was the darkness.

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She could hear voices. They seemed to be coming from somewhere far away and they were distorted. At first she couldn't make out what they were saying.

All she could feel was that she was in the middle of a storm. Everything was turning and she wanted to throw up, she could barely even breathe. Her head was hurting, she felt like it was going to explode in any minute. Then the sounds became clearer. Definitely male voices.

She tried to breathe and then all came back to her. The cemetery, the dead man. The wounds on his neck. Fear gripped her heart like a heat wave.

Vampires she thought. Vampires had taken her. Her heart started beating in a terrified tempo that made the world spin again.

"_We retrieved the girl," _she heard a man say and then she lost consciousness again.

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She took a deep breath. She was still alive. Pressure was building up in her ears.

She then panicked. She couldn't open her eyes. Her head was on fire.

"_We will be landing in less than 2 hours." _She heard a deep male voice say.

She had to do something but her body was not responding. Her limbs were numb and unresponsive.

She was so cold. Her mouth dry craving for some water.

Her shoulders and neck were rigid and frozen. Someone had taken her jacket off. Terror circled her heart and mind. Someone had touched her while she was unconscious. Someone was taking her God knows where!

She willed herself to stay awake. She tried to take deep breaths. As she tried to move her head she couldn't stop herself from moaning in pain.

"_The bitch is waking up."_ She heard another man say.

She jolted away and moved her head up as a reaction to the sound that was near. She then realized that she couldn't open her eyes because something was covering them. Tears formed in them.

She could feel people around her but she remained silent.

Her head was burning up. Her arms ached. They had tied her hands up. But at least her hands were tied up in her front so she instinctively tried to get them on her eyes to remove the blindfold but then two strong hands grabbed her arms and stopped her. The man immediately cursed and shoved her back with a force that cut her breath. She heard him screaming in a rage and in pain. Others laughed.

"_Damn her skin burns!" _the man yelled.

Then someone slapped her hard on the face and her head turned on the other side. Her cheek and jaw burned and the pain in her head became unbearable. Her faintness returned. She could feel hot liquid running from her torn lip. She realized it was her own blood as she swallowed it. The metallic taste of her blood making her sick.

"_She uses vervain idiot. Use gloves!" _another said still laughing.

She tried to move like a frightened blind defenseless animal would and then two gloved hands held her on place. She screamed and then she felt a pinch. Fire exploded on her throat. Someone had just shoved a needle in her neck.

The world turned around its axis and she lost consciousness yet again.

* * *

Her whole body ached. Every cell in her body was screaming with pain that was consuming each and every part of her. The blindfold wasn't there anymore. She tried to open her heavy eyelids and flashes of light almost blinded her.

As she opened her eyes she realized that she was in a dark place and those flashes of light in reality were just a trick of mind. As her eyesight slowly returned she blinked. Once and then twice until her vision became clear. This place was really dark and cold.

She finally woke up completely and real absolute terror settled in. Tears gathered in her green eyes when she realized that she was lying on a dirty floor that was made by heavy stones. She looked around and saw that the whole place was made by stone. She tried to sit up but her head kept spinning. She wanted to throw up. And she was so thirsty!

_Stay calm Caroline, breathe, stay calm!_ That was her inner mantra but it wasn't working.

There was almost no light in that small suffocating place. Only some dusted faded rays that were coming from some metal bars on the top of the wooden door that was in the other side of her…dungeon.

Funny how people react in times of absolute terror. The first thing she noticed was the place she was in when she should have first noticed the state _she _was in.

The tears finally fell from her eyes and she gasped in horror. Her hands were handcuffed behind her back. She could feel the metal digging in the flesh of her wrists almost cutting her circulation. Her right ankle was also cuffed even tighter. The leg cuff was connected to a short rusty chain. The end of the chain was locked to a metal circle link that was embedded to the stone wall behind her.

But what shocked her even more and made her panic rise to new heights was the fact that she wore no clothes anymore. She was lying on the hard cold floor of a dungeon tied up and someone had removed her clothes leaving her only in her underwear.

Someone -or maybe more and not just one person- had stripped her while she was unconscious. They had touched her in her most weakened state. Who knows what else they have done to her while she was out of it. Her panic rose even higher and she started crying.

"**Let me out of here!"** she yelled as she pulled on the chain that was attached to her leg and as she tried to free her hands. Pointless. It was pointless. She was only hurting herself as the metals bruised and cut her skin.

Vampires! They had to be vampires! As a dream she remembered that earlier someone had slapped her and had mentioned the word vervain.

Her cheek still burned. Her head felt like it was about to crack open. Yes. She remembered now. Someone had hit her head on her car's window! What sick freaks were these people?

_Were they even people?_

She was coming to realize how stupid she had been acting all this time. Both of her parents were right. If only she had listened to them and followed their instructions.

Now she wouldn't be half naked locked up in this place! How long was she in here? How long was she going to stay here?

What did they want from her? What was going to happen to her?

"**LET ME GO!"** she screamed again but no one answered. She was alone and yet she could feel that someone was watching her. And that feeling was the scariest emotion she had ever experienced.

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**Mystic Falls, Virginia.**

**Forbes residency.**

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General Bill Forbes was sitting on his daughter's bed in her room. He was staring at her trophies and at her pictures that hung on the wall. His face a mask of desperation. Now that he was finally alone, even if it was for just a few moments, he could show his true colors. And all he felt was mind numbing fear and nothing else.

His baby girl was taken and he didn't do anything to stop it. He had failed his child. She should have been safe in her room right now. He should have protected her and she was gone.

She was missing for more than 30 hours. At first they thought she was just breaking the rules like always but this time she didn't return home at all. This time she didn't answer her phone. They had lost valuable time by not searching for her sooner.

They had found her car near the cemetery. The driver's window was covered in blood. The forensic said that it was her DNA.

His little girl's blood was on that window.

They have also found signs of a struggle. The window was cracked and mixed with her blood were some blond hair. _Her hair_. According to the investigation someone had hit her head on that window hard enough to crack the glass. A blow like that could have been fatal but there was no body found they said. His Caroline was mentioned as a body.

Near his daughter's car there were many dead bodies. All of them deputies and HPAV officers. All of them brutally murdered. All of them dead from blood loss. All of them had puncture wounds on them. But his daughter was nowhere to be found.

_Vampires!_

Somehow Vampires had bridged the town's security and invaded their borders. And Caroline had once again ignored the curfew.

She could be dead. His daughter could be dead. His hands covered his face in despair.

"Bill?"

He picked up his head only to see Liz standing in front of him looking exhausted.

He tried to calm himself but he couldn't even move.

Liz looked around and she saw a photo on her daughter's dresser. There she was hugging Bill. She was smiling. She had just entered the cheerleading squad.

She went to the dresser and took the photo to her hands. Her fingers caressed her daughter's smiling face.

"This is her favorite picture," she whispered.

She held her tears for so long. But now she couldn't. What kind of mother was she? She was out there always patrolling and protecting even complete strangers, even to the point where she would neglect her family, and in the end she couldn't even protect her own daughter.

Where was Caroline? How could have they failed her like that?

Her long estranged ex husband came close and took her in his arms and held her tight.

"We will find her Liz. One way or another I promise we will find her" he said to her as he held her close. The picture of Caroline between them.

He didn't voice his real thoughts though.

He didn't say out loud what he was certain that Liz was thinking too.

Caroline could be already dead by now. _Or even worse_. She could be at the hands of vampires. And if that was happening then he shouldn't pray to find his daughter alive. It would be better for her to be dead.

Because he didn't even want to imagine what was going to happen to her if she was alive and in the mercy of those monsters.

* * *

She forced herself to stop crying. She had no one to depend on except herself so now it was not a time for her to break down.

She tried to sit on the floor and to ignore her headache and nausea. She could do this. She had to do this.

As she sat she crawled back to the wall and rested her back and her head on the stony slimy surface. She shuddered with disgust as she felt her naked back touching the wet greasy wall. She brought her knees close to her chest and let her head fall over them. She tried to control her breathing and soon enough her stomach stopped hurting somewhat.

She picked herself up and looked more carefully at her prison. She had to see if there was any way out; anything that could help her escape. Anything at all.

The walls and floor were made from solid stone. Mucus and slime had formed over them. There were no lamps or plugs and therefore no electricity. Shackles and chains were hanging from the walls and from the ceiling. At their sight she felt all of her courage being drained out of her at once.

The place was damp and really cold. The fact that she was clad only in her flimsy black underwear didn't help. She was trembling and she couldn't even use her hands to rub her skin in order to produce some sort of heat. She was hearing scratching noises and she tried to put out of her mind that those noises belonged to rats.

She unsteadily tried to stand. The headache and nausea returned with a vengeance but she made it. She sighed with relief. The chain that was linked with the cuff on her leg was long enough for her to stand. At least that was something. But it was still a short chain and she couldn't just take even two small steps. She screamed in frustration.

She looked around and then she saw that there were some other things in the cell. At first she didn't noticed them because the corner they were at was too dark, but in the right side -and not near her- there were three things on the floor.

A bowl of water, a thrown loaf of bread that looked rock hard and a bucket.

A bowl of water! Water! There was water!

Her instincts went into overdrive. When she saw the water she immediately tried to get closer but the chain prevented her from doing so. She fell as she tried again and then she stood up again. Her throat ached. She was in desperate need for some water. She tried to force the chain to give out or at least to extend a little bit but it had no slack left. She pulled her leg and then pulled some more. She used her free leg to try and reach the bowl but the angle wasn't right and she couldn't do it. Her throat burned with thirst. She had to drink that water and yet she couldn't reach it. She cried in frustration.

This was too cruel. They had put water and food in front of her but made sure she couldn't reach it. More tears fell on her dirty cheeks.

Her knees gave out and she fell on the floor. The impact hurt her already scratched knees and she cried even more. And then as she saw the distance between her and the water she realized something.

She could reach the water_! But only if she crawled there_. If she lied on the floor as far as her body and the chain would allow her then her face logically would be able to get to the bowl of water.

She was horrified! They expected from her to drink and eat like she was an animal! She refused to do such a thing so she turned her head to the other side. She wasn't going to give to anyone the satisfaction to treat her like this.

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She didn't know if minutes or hours passed by but the thirst was becoming even more demanding to the point of madness. She was casting glances at the tempting bowl of water. She knew that in the end she would die without water and she didn't know how long she would stay in here or how long she was already in here. She had to survive but she didn't want to do such a thing.

Time passed and the water was calling her. She was seeing stars at this point. She needed to drink!

No matter how humiliating the thought and the circumstances were her thirst won. It was worth a shot if she didn't want to die from thirst.

She lied on the floor and pressed her body forward as far as it could go. Shame covered her like a shroud but there were no other choices left.

She could swear that someone was watching her. It was like a cold feeling at the pit of her stomach. Like someone's gaze was drilling to her back. She ignored it. She had to ignore it.

She had to pull the chain again. As an old cheerleader she was flexible though so she stretched her body as much as she could. First her legs and then her upper body. Her chest was touching the floor and was sliding forward. She realized there was mud on the floor. She didn't care. At this point all she wanted to do was drink some water. Her throat was scratchy and was screaming for it. She then understood that she didn't really know how_ much_ time had passed ever since they took her. It could be more than just a few hours. It could be more than a day or even worse. This kind of thirst was an indicator that a great length of time has passed.

She stretched even more and then finally her face was millimeters away from the water. She moved her head in her right and left in order to remove her damp hair out of the way and then finally her dry and torn lips touched the water. She gulped as much as she could in one go. She coughed. Her throat was so dry that she could barely swallow. The water that touched her torn lips burned like fire and yet as it touched her tongue it felt divine. She had reached Eden. She kept drinking in a desperate effort to quench her thirst. The water was stale and cold and was tickling her nose as she drank but she didn't care. She didn't care if there was anything in the water. She didn't care what kind of bacteria could be in it. All she cared for was the fact that it was running down her throat and making her feel alive again. As she was drinking the surface of the water was going lower inside the bowl and it was getting harder for her to drink. She had to push her face more inside the bowl.

And then she heard the worst noise she had heard in her life.

_Laughter. _

She was so thirsty and in an immediate need of water that while she was drinking she didn't hear that someone had opened the door and entered the cell.

She was so startled that she moved her head up so abruptly that the bowl of water turned over and the rest of the water splashed on the floor.

The man just laughed more and she immediately moved back to the wall as far as she could go in trepidation.

"Learning your place human?" he asked mockingly. He was tall and had dark hair. His eyes were hard and he was wearing leather clothes.

She brought her knees on her chest again in an effort to cover herself. She was just in her underwear. She knew it was hopeless. She was chained on a wall and she was handcuffed. He could do anything he wanted to her. Besides if he was indeed a vampire she wouldn't be able to defend herself against his strength even if she wasn't tied up.

She didn't care. Anger swelled in her chest! They didn't have the right to treat her like this!

"Who are you? What do you want? Why am I here?" she fired questions at him.

He ignored her questions and looked at the turned over bowl on the floor.

"Look what you have done!" he mocked her some more.

"Oh well that's too bad. One bowl of water per day. Those are the rules," he told her.

"Why am I here?" she screamed at him.

His gaze turned lethal and his eyes changed. Veins formed around them. Blood filled them.

She couldn't speak anymore. Her heart almost stopped at this sight. She closed her eyes. This was a nightmare. She would wake up and she would be at her home. This wasn't happening to her. When she opened her eyes she saw that his eyes had turned back to normal and he wore a sadistic smile on his face.

He then looked at her with a disgusted expression.

"You got yourself all dirty human," he said and she could hear how demeaning his tone got when he called her human. It was like he was insulting her.

"Here let me help," he told her and before she could even see him move he had thrown cold water on her.

She screamed as the freezing water hit her with incredible force.

She heard him laughing and dropping down the bucket he obviously had brought with him when he got in the cell.

She couldn't speak or react. Water was dropping from her hair and body and with it part of the mud and her most of her hopes were rinsed away.

She wasn't strong enough. She cried in front of this monster and his laughter was the more painful thing she had endured so far. Not even when her head collided with her car window she had felt such pain.

He went and picked up the bowl from the floor.

"See ya tomorrow human," he said and took his bucket and the bowl with him.

He left her prison and closed the door behind him with a thud. She heard the lock turning and after a while his laughter faded away.

She was freezing. She couldn't stop her teeth from chattering. She was in pain. She was degraded and all alone in hell. She wanted her mom and her dad.

She wanted to leave this place. She wanted someone to rescue her from this nightmare. She wanted to live.

She heard someone screaming in pain and she shuddered in fear. What was this place? What was happening here?

The screams kept going. They were screams of pure agony and with her hands chained behind her back she couldn't even close her ears to shut the terrifying sound out.

She laid on the floor over the pool of the water that was thrown at her and she curled her body in a fetal position. She then cried until she couldn't cry anymore.

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**New England**

**Providence, Rhode Island**

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Elijah looked at the sleeping form of the naked woman in his bed. His eyes trailed over every curve and line of her enticing body. He had kept her around for centuries. Their kind didn't believe in the bonds of marriage but for him this woman was his wife.

It was this decision that estranged him from his brother in the first place. Klaus considered his love for this woman a betrayal towards him and their bond.

Maybe he was right but he was never able to let her go.

_**England 1492**_

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_The moon was rising. There was nothing he could do to help her get out of this. Soon Klaus' s warlock would come to take her. Everything was set. Tonight was the moment his brother was waiting for. For more than 5 centuries Klaus awaited for this night to come. _

_And he stood by him all this time. Always and forever._

_But now all he could think was that he was going to lose her. Klaus was going to kill her tonight and yet the elixir would bring her back to life. But he couldn't stand to see her suffer. To suffer the life she would have to lead after tomorrow. He knew that his brother would probably compel her after the ritual and then he would truly lose her forever. Her spirit would be gone. But even if Klaus wouldn't show her the mercy of compulsion and would just force her to do what he wanted he would still lose her._

_After tonight Klaus would control her human life. He would take her blood and every offspring she would produce. _

_Klaus needed her alive after the sacrifice. That was a given. He needed her blood and he needed her to reproduce heirs to the doppelganger line. _

_Katerina was going to be given to one of Rebekah's blood servants. And if he knew his brother well, and that he did, eventually he would pass her around to as many men –either servants or human confidents of his—as possible. That way she would continuously bare children. _

_But that way she would also lose her soul and everything that made her who she was. The only woman that after so many centuries made him feel human again. She looked so much like Iona and Tatia and yet in her face all he could see was the light that belonged to her own unique soul._

_He loved his brother. He had helped him for centuries. He and Klaus had formed the councils. Both of them together brought order to the underworld centuries ago. He was the one that found Katerina for Klaus._

_But as time passed her smile had entered his heart. He couldn't let her suffer like this. _

_Maybe his motives were more selfish. Maybe he just wanted her for himself. Either way he had to do something. Now before it was too late._

_He had easily passed through his brother's guards._

_As he entered her room he saw her lying on the bed. She looked peaceful and more beautiful than ever. She had no idea that in a few hours she would live a nightmare. He couldn't help her get out of this but at least he could help her survive what was to come after the sacrifice._

_He thought that if he was going to do the thing he was thinking he would lose his brother forever. But as the candle lights casted their shine over this sleeping beauty he understood that this was a price he would willingly pay._

_He sat on the bed and he gently caressed her cheek._

_She sleepily opened her eyes and then she woke up with a start. He smiled at her._

"_Elijah?" _

_Her voice trembled. A man in her room in such an hour was inexcusable. Even more so since he was the brother of her betrothed. Her breathing quickened._

"_What are you…"_

_She didn't get the chance to complete her sentence. He put his hand on her mouth to prevent her from talking._

"_Do not make a sound!" he warned her and the urgency in his voice startled the woman in front of him. Her eyes grew bigger but he didn't detect fear in her._

_She nodded and he removed his hand. _

"_Do you trust me Katerina?" he asked her and his hope flared when she saw her blushing._

"_Very much so my lord," she whispered._

"_There are many things I want to tell you but I don't have the time, I just want you to place your faith upon me and to know that what I am about to is for your own good," he said._

"_I…Elijah," she uncertainly pronounced his name without any care for the proper title and behavior anymore "I don't understand, what are you doing here and in such an hour?" she tentatively asked._

"_Don't be afraid of me," he implored her._

"_Why would I…" and then she froze. She covered her mouth with her hand as she saw Elijah's eyes changing. New teeth forming on his mouth. The pale shade of his face turning deadly._

_She wanted to speak but she couldn't. She wanted to be afraid but she oddly felt safe._

_After what seemed like a long time Elijah's eyes turned back to his normal beautiful gentle color. All traces of blood gone. The veins disappeared._

"_What are you?" she asked in awe._

"_Your only chance to survive this night," he told her and a sound of fear escaped her throat._

"_What, what are you talking about, what are you?" her voice barely above a whisper._

"_Tonight my brother will sacrifice you in an old ritual; your blood is the key to break a curse that was placed upon him centuries ago by a powerful coven of witches," he told her and admired her ability to stay silent and generally calm. But terror marked her gaze. _

"_Me and my brother are vampires, we have walked on this earth ever since the creation of mankind" he told her knowing that all these were too much for her to handle but there was no time._

"_It can't be…" she said trembling._

"_You live in a world of monsters my lady," he said._

"_Why?...What…I.." she tried to breathe," what do I have to do with any of these," she asked him as a tear fell from her eye._

"_Your blood has ancient roots…in time all shall be revealed…right now though time is running out and explanations will have to wait… but… I can help you…if you let me," he told her with all his sincerity. His tone ominous._

"_How?" she asked him afraid._

"_Believe in me. Trust me Katerina," his voice a mixture of love and honesty and then his eyes changed again._

_Oddly enough she didn't back away, not even when he bit his wrist and extended his arm in front of her mouth. His blood falling on her cleavage and her white night gown._

_She looked at him straight in his vampiric eyes and her fingers touched the veins on his face. Admiration and astonishment shined in her gaze._

"_Drink," he whispered._

_Trust. This was all about trust. Later on they would both believe that she wasn't terrified of his nature in that moment because she was made to be his. She belonged to their kind and that night was meant to be._

_But at that definite moment it was all about the trust they shared._

_And she did trust him. He was a monster and yet he was Elijah. The kind gentle man that had earned a place in her heart even when she believed in her vows to marry Lord Klaus and thought it was forbidden to care for the Lord brother of her betrothed. _

_She gave him her trust that night as she drank from his arm and changed her fate. Her brown locks falling over his skin and sanguine color dropping from the side of her lips as his wound closed and she gulped down his ancient blood._

_He gave her a chance at eternal life and survival as he kissed her lips that were now tainted with his blood. He brought her close as his betrayal to his brother was sealed and the promise to save the woman he loved was becoming a reality._

_Klaus could break his curse tonight but after that Katerina would come back to life as a vampire. Her blood would not belong to his brother. She would be his forever. _

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Elijah closed his eyes as memories of that night flooded his mind.

Klaus had killed Katerina. He stood there and watched as Klaus's guards dragged the woman he loved into a circle of fire. His heart broke at her tears and fear. He stood there as Klaus drunk her blood and stole her last breath. He couldn't do anything to stop her suffering and he would forever regret his incapability to save her from such a death but it was the only way to ensure her survival.

He was the one to take her lifeless body away as his brother transformed into a wolf again after five hundred years. The curse was broken but when Klaus returned he and Katerina had fled England.

She turned into one of them and they escaped his brother's wrath for centuries.

Only when the next doppelganger was born and Klaus got what he wanted they were able to have contact again and that due to their siblings' persistence and due to the pleadings of their councils. Him and Klaus formed a communication again but not like before. Never like before. He knew that he would have to be extra careful and to keep his eyes open always unless he wanted a dagger in his heart and his woman unprotected.

Katerina was still banished from their court and their council gatherings. But at least he and Klaus had formed a relationship again after so many centuries. Even if it was a strained one.

A relationship he would have to break again with a new betrayal. Because he couldn't allow his brother to start a war with the humans. His principals didn't allow it. The promise he had given to Katerina didn't allow it either. He had failed her three years ago but he couldn't do it again.

He looked outside the window. The sun was rising.

Klaus had the girl in his hands and the hearing was tonight. He had to stop him at all costs. Caroline Forbes needed to be returned to her family. He only hoped that he could help the girl before it was too late.

_For all of them._

* * *

She had lost all sense of time. She didn't know if it was day or night. No light entered this dungeon. She didn't know what time it was or how long she had stayed in that rotting hole with the rats as her only company. All she knew was that life was ebbing away from her body and yet she found that she almost didn't care. _Almost._

No one had released her from the chains on her hands all this time. She couldn't even feel her body anymore. She was certain that she was going to freeze to death. She was coughing and her throat had almost closed. For countless times she had screamed to them to let her out, to set her free. No one had answered. No one cared. Then she had just screamed until all her mouth could produce was silence.

Filth was covering her whole body now as she stared at the stony ceiling meters above her. The white of her skin had disappeared under the black color of dust and mud. There was slimy goo on her body and hair.

Her hair was a mess and by this point was glued on her scalp, forehead and neck. She didn't care. Not after her body and mind betrayed her like the way they did.

Cold sweat had covered her flesh and her torn and dirty underwear were stuck on her body like a second skin. Hypothermia had taken over.

Logically she should be afraid of her impending death but after what happened to her she didn't care anymore. She was just lying on the floor like a ghost.

When the guard that had thrown her the cold water left she had cried her eyes out. She couldn't stop the freezing cold from taking over until she surrendered to exhaustion. That must have happened days ago. She wasn't sure anymore.

After the incident with the water she had slept. It was her only way out of this place. When she had finally woken up she couldn't understand where she was for a moment. She was cold and in pain but in her dream she was with Elena and Bonnie at their cheerleading practice and they were laughing. She could still hear and feel that laughter and back then as she had open her eyes and had to squint them hard into the darkness in order to see that she wasn't in the cheerful dream of her past but in the hell of her present.

She had stood motionless then looking at space like a zombie. She had been beaten, kidnapped, abused, stripped almost naked, chained. She had to drink water like she was an untamed animal and they had thrown cold water at her that was inviting pneumonia in her body. She had been locked at a place with no light or air. A place that was so dirty that covered her whole. They had taken her freedom away and soon they would take her life too. She had been thinking all of these things again and again until her eyes had fallen on the loaf of bread and the bucket that were left on the other side of the cell.

She had started at them mutely for hours. She could understand why they had left the bread but she couldn't understand the existence of the bucket until it hit her hard. The horrifying reality had made her cry harder.

The bucket was there for when she would want to relieve herself. As the dreadful understanding of her situation was finally washing over her she had realized that she really wouldn't survive this. She couldn't. She wasn't a trooper like her mother. She wasn't a soldier like her father. She was not made out of hard material. She was bossy and she could order others around and organize events but she wasn't meant for this horror. She had just entered college. Her life was about to begin. She wasn't supposed to be chained and treated like a beast. She was spoilt yes. But here it wasn't about that. They were depriving her basic human rights. They were stripping her bare. They were taking her dignity away.

As time slowly progressed she had felt her bladder ache and she had wanted to die. She had thought that she wasn't going to pee in a bucket while she was chained like a wild beast. By then her stomach was growling and she still wanted to drink water.

If someone asked her now she would say that she was able to relieve every moment like it was happening again. Like it was happening right now.

_The chains were cutting her circulation. She was in pain and she could barely breathe. Her teeth were chattering. She wanted to eat but she couldn't move. Even if she could she wouldn't eat like a dog. She preferred to die. She couldn't relieve the same shame. The laughter of that vampire that had found her spread on the stones and drinking from a bowl like she was a restrained kitten was still echoing in her ears. It would forever be imprinted in her memory._

_She had fallen asleep back then and when she woke up she saw that a new bowl of water had been placed next to the hard bread and the bucket. _

_Hot tears had spread on her face and immediately turned cold. The vampire had said that he would be bringing her a bowl of water every day. So she had been at least a day in that hell hole. Something told her it was more than just a day even if it was impossible to calculate time in this place. By that moment her bladder ached harder. The need to use a toiler was emerging more demanding than ever and yet she squeezed her legs and refused to allow herself to be degraded like that. Because she still remembered that the bucket was further away from the bowl of water. She had barely reached the water so if she needed to use the bucket she would have to drag it closer to her. But she didn't have the use of her hands anymore so she would have to use her face or teeth. _

_Hours were passing by and hunger and thirst were taking over. In that place time was expanding. She didn't know anymore. She couldn't perceive any notion of time. Seconds seemed like hours and what she thought about days could have easily been a few hours… or not. She didn't know. All she knew was that she was too dizzy and exhausted._

_She fell asleep again but when she woke up she couldn't do this anymore. She cried her shame and crawled towards the bowl of water. She drank again like the first time and even though there was no one to laugh at her this time she could still hear mocking laughter aimed at her in her head. Her dirty tears mixed with the water and after that she took some bites from the bread. She had to bite hard again and again, while steadying the bread on the floor with her forehead, in order to cut some pieces and then she chewed them even harder in order to push them down her throat._

_She looked at the bucket feeling the immense need to pee. She regretted drinking water again since it increased that need. She turned her head on the other side and her nausea came back._

_She once again fell asleep. She didn't know or remembered by then how many times she was falling asleep and then waking up. It was the only constant thing she could do. Every single time she would be awake she would want to go back to sleep again because in her dreams she was safe and happy. But eventually even her dreams vanished and she was left all alone in the dark between dreamless slumbers and a hellish reality._

_And then it happened._

_Her eyes suddenly opened wide because the pain in her bladder was so painful that she couldn't stand it. Her body wasn't obeying her anymore. She could hardly move and she could never reach the bucket in time. As hot liquid trailed down her thighs like a flood hot pain entered her heart. This act was the last straw for her. The terrible savage lack of humanity broke her. She turned her head then as her stomach couldn't stop from convulsing and she threw up. _

_She stayed there after that as an immovable object. Her spirit dead as she remained chained to her own waste. She didn't want to fight even for such a basic thing as human breath anymore. Because every time she was breathing she was inhaling the stench of her own piss and vomit. The sticky liquid on her legs turned to ice. She couldn't believe what had happened. This wasn't her. This was not her body. She wasn't living this. She was home, she was in her bed safe and sound and this was a bad dream. Just a bad dream and she would wake up and that would be it. But she wasn't home. She was in a prison and for the first time she was feeling hate. Hate for her own body and for the monsters that degraded her like this._

After that nothing mattered. Time didn't matter. The hope to be found and be saved didn't matter. She couldn't believe that it was able for anyone to be broken in such short period of time but then again she didn't know what time felt anymore. It seemed like the longest period of time to her.

And in that period everything she had been taking for granted like food, water and warmth in her life didn't exist. She didn't exist.

_She stayed like that forever. And as her suffering and torment progressed she felt like she was losing her mind. _

_She could feel soft kisses in her cheek from when her mom used to wake her up to get her ready for school. She could feel her father's hands giggling her. She was a kid and she was happy._

_She knew that hallucinations had begun but she welcomed them. Because in those illusions she was with Bonnie checking out boys and she was with Elena as they were getting ready to go to parties. She was reliving her first kiss and her first heartbreak that had left such sweet sorrow in her heart. She was with Matt and she was with Tyler. She was at her prom and she was graduating. _

_She stopped drinking water. She didn't care. Deep down she didn't want to die but she wouldn't give anymore satisfaction to these monsters. Better to die than to live like this she thought._

_She couldn't tell how many days passed because when she was opening her eyes the bowl of water was still there. Full. She didn't know if someone was bringing new water when she was asleep or if it was the one she refused to drink. _

_A guard entered the cell. She couldn't tell if this was indeed happening or if it was a fragment of her imagination. She could barely keep her eyes open but she saw that he wasn't the same man that had thrown the water to her._

"_You are starving yourself" he told her in a reprimanding tone._

_She didn't respond. She just looked elsewhere. She didn't even try to cover her dirty half naked body._

_He came near her and grabbed her by her filthy hair causing her head to hurt but she didn't cry out. Fuck you she thought. I won't scream for you monsters anymore._

"_Would you rather for me to shove my blood down your throat little girl?" he threatened her._

_She cringed at that thought. Bile rose in her mouth at the possibility. _

_He let her hair go then and he decided to show some mercy. He brought the water and the bread next to her._

"_Eat. Drink," he ordered. _

_He expected from her to bend over and eat and drink from the floor again. She didn't move an inch. When he realized that she wouldn't oblige he took the bread from the floor, he cut it in pieces and tried to feed her himself. _

_She tried to move her head away and then he shoved some bread in her mouth by force and she defiantly spat it at his face._

"_Leave me alone!" she yelled at him._

_He looked at her angrily but she didn't feel even fear at that point._

"_If you drink and eat I will take__ off__ the cuff from your leg," he promised her._

_She looked at him with hope for a moment but she couldn't believe him. Monsters lie she thought._

"_I give you my word human," he said._

"_It means nothing," she spat._

_The man then sighed and took a key out of his back pocket. He unchained her leg and then she looked at him blinking surprised. _

_The surprise lasted for less than a second as rage swelled in her chest. The force of that emotion brought her back to life for some moments. He wasn't doing her a favor. He wasn't showing her mercy! He didn't have the right to do any of these things to her. Those chains shouldn't be on her!_

"_Last chance. Either you eat and drink or I'll feed you my blood," he told her with finality._

_That was a line she couldn't cross. He fed her the bread then and she felt more dirty and more humiliated than ever. He then gave water to her and she drank it eagerly as her thirst was still violent and was screaming even for the last drop of water._

_When she ate and drank the guard had flashed away but before she could even blink he was standing in front of her again. He was holding a long chain and she tried to move away as fear overcame her. _

_He didn't pay any attention to her as he unlocked the short chain that was attached in the link on the wall and put in its place the long one he had brought. Then he abruptly turned her around and linked the new chain to the handcuffs that held her hands tied up behind her back._

_He left again and returned with fresh water in a bowl that was a cleaner one that the ones before and new bread that looked soft._

"_Those better be gone when we bring you new ones. Not all guards will be as kind as I was," he threatened her and then he left._

_Silent tears fell as she was left once again alone._

_The new chain the guard brought her was long enough for her to be able to stand and walk around several steps. She could even reach the bucket now._

_She had felt weird being able to walk again. As she realized that even walking was a privilege in this place that could be given to her or be taken away like it was nothing she broke down in anger. She thrashed and kicked at the stone wall again and again almost breaking her toes and feet in undiluted rage and frustration. She tired herself so much that she fell on the ground so exhausted like she had run for miles. _

_Some more time passed and she kneeled and drank more water, she ate the bread and then got up and went to the bucket. She lowered her panties with much difficulty since her hands were cuffed behind her back and then she used the bucket. When she finished she looked at it horrified. _

_She realized that she didn't even think twice before using it. It had been normal for her and had even seemed like a more 'civilized' choice and a thing she ought to do. Dreadful realization settled. They had indeed broken her. They had turned her to a potty trained animal._

_In her mindless rage she kicked the bucket away with all her strength sending it to the other side of the cell, spreading her waste all around. Now the bucket was out of reach and if she needed to use it again she wouldn't be able to. She would have to relive the horror of peeing herself of even worse. _

_She fell on her knees completely humiliated as everything that had happen to her in that last period of time replayed in her mind again and again._

She had fallen on the floor and hadn't picked herself up since then.

And now she was there lost and broken hoping for an end to come.

* * *

.

.

**New Orleans. French Quarter.**

.

.

No one dared interrupt them and with a good reason.

He held Stefan by the neck as he was suspending him in mid air against the wall. Stefan's legs tangled desperately before his hands reached Klaus's arm that felt more like a steel clamp over his throat. He tried to pry his throat crashing grip away but he couldn't.

"All I asked for was your **loyalty!**" He roared to him.

"Not all Klaus." Stefan barely got the phrase out of his mouth since Klaus was crashing his windpipe.

100 years of servitude. This was their deal that took effect 2 years ago. Stefan had given up his life and a chance to be with the woman he loved. Now he was Klaus' right hand.

He was once again known as the ripper and he was doing Klaus's dirty job most of the times.

"Small price to pay considering your betrayal don't you think?" Klaus dismissively told him as he removed his hand.

Stefan fell on the floor and rubbed his sore neck. He then stood up and glared at Klaus.

"You know very well that I never cared for what you would do to me," he said with conviction.

Klaus looked silently at him, anger still in his eyes. Usually he dismissed Stefan's outbursts and snarky comments. This time he went to get a drink as he said.

"No, you just cared for what I would do to those you love," his voice deliberately menacing.

Stefan gritted his teeth. He didn't answer because it was true. And he should know better than to provoke Klaus.

Klaus looked at his comrade with contempt.

"You should have paid more attention. Love is weakness. A fleeting shade of useless emotion that means nothing," he said as he drank his scotch at one go, "It renders you powerless and makes you bow down like you did to me," he said as he played with his empty crystal glass and watched the way the light reflected on the glass.

He went and stood in front of Stefan with lethal intent.

"We do not feel and we do not care Stefan. For every weakness and mistake there is always a price to pay. And now here we stand yet again. Once more you betray my trust," his voice low and dangerous.

Stefan knew what Klaus would do if he believed that he betrayed him and he couldn't allow that to happen. Many things were at stake here. So he averted his eyes and took a deep breath.

"It wasn't like that," he said as he sighed and went to get a drink of his own.

"No? What was it like then?" Klaus asked as his eyes followed Stefan's every move.

Stefan took a sip from his glass but this time the alcohol seemed to have the taste of ash. He felt useless. He couldn't protect those that he cared about and tonight Klaus would once again get what he wanted.

"She doesn't deserve what you are planning for her Klaus," he finally said looking at Klaus with a grave expression.

Klaus now looked at him amused.

"_She?" _he asked raising his eyebrow.

"Caroline," Stefan answered not amused.

Klaus smirked and crossed his hands behind his back and took some steps forward.

"Ah, the girl. What about her?" he conversationally asked.

"She shouldn't be here. She is-"

Whatever Stefan was about to say was interrupted by Klaus inquiring voice.

"She is what?" he asked. A note of dark mirth in his voice.

Stefan couldn't play this game anymore. He knew Caroline for some time now. She was his friend. He had played a role in her suffering too. But he couldn't just stand there and do nothing. Klaus would break her and then he would kill her. He already knew that she was kept locked in the dungeons of the estate. That place was hell for humans.

Klaus had ordered the guards to not let him go anywhere near the dungeons for as long they kept Caroline there and there was no point to go and get her by force. He wouldn't be able to take her out of this place, not with so many hybrids and vampires around. Klaus had indeed created an army and this place was like a fortress. Not like. It was a fortress. It could even stand an attack and a lock down. No one got in and no one got out without Klaus's approval.

But even without seeing her he already knew what was happening to Caroline. All humans that were thrown in that place suffered. The vampires called those dungeons reformatories. He called them hell. When he first struck his deal with Klaus he had made him go to the dungeons. Klaus wanted to know he could trust him and that he would do anything he would ask of him but also wanted to bring back to life his sadistic side. Sometimes he was meant to be a guard, others a torturer and others he was forced to release his ripper persona. That place has been hell not only for its prisoners but also for him too. And now also for Caroline.

He knew for sure that Caroline was under Klaus's "protection" so the guards wouldn't lay a hand on her but there were multiple ways of making a young human girl suffer without laying a hand upon her.

Awful images of what might be happening to Caroline in her cell right now as they spoke flashed in his mind.

"She is just a girl. Let her go," he pleaded.

Klaus went and leaned at the edge of his office.

"Your misguided affection for humans is becoming really tiresome Stefan. I have left you among them for far too long," he said like it was something that could be rectified.

For Stefan those past months have been a breath of fresh air. There, between the humans pretending to be one of them. He had been able to live like a normal person again. He connected with people and felt like himself. Or more precisely he was able to get in touch with the human side of himself. The side he so has missed.

He knew that it was a lie because he could never erase his past and his nature but for some moments he could live by that lie. He could work and walk down the road as a human. He could relax and enjoy a quiet evening as one. He could even make friends that wanted nothing in return from him. Friends that cared and didn't judge him. Friends like …_Caroline._

"You should have never have gone to my brother with this," Klaus all but yelled at him frustrated knowing very well that Elijah would again try to intervene with his plans, "Yet again you are crossing me for a …human!" he spat with a voice filled with venom.

This made Stefan lose his temper as well.

"She has a name! She is not just a human. She is a person with emotions and thoughts!" he said with anger.

"You don't say," Klaus smirked. Irony painting his tone.

Stefan ran his hand over his hair.

"Caroline is a ray of light Klaus. She is a beautiful person. She is funny and smart but deep down she is lost and lonely. She is not meant for this. Let her go," he implored him.

But this time he also knew that he couldn't strike a deal with Klaus. He didn't have anything else to bargain anyway. But even if he did he knew that Klaus wouldn't back down from this.

"Caroline is a human end of story," Klaus said with finality.

Stefan looked at him desperately.

"She-"

"She now belongs to me! " Klaus interrupted him, anger emanating from his body. They way he talked about Caroline proved that in his mind it was a done deal.

"Not yet!" Stefan defied him.

Klaus laughed.

"After tonight she will be one of my possessions Stefan. If you dare oppose my claim I will consider our deal null and void and there will be consequences. I would advise you to tread carefully."

Stefan knew exactly what Klaus meant. He remained silent. He couldn't do anything for Caroline. If he did people he cared for would pay the price._ She_ would pay the price.

Klaus's eyes darkened.

"You have crossed the line for the last time…_friend_. There won't be another."

He left the room leaving Stefan behind.

Stefan closed his eyes. He couldn't help Caroline anymore; her only hope now lied with Elijah. But he was afraid that this hope was less than slim and it wouldn't be enough to help her escape her fate.

* * *

She loved autumn, the gentle breeze and the falling leafs; the aching blue sky and the soft rays of light behind the clouds. And she loved the rain. Feeling its early drops; smelling its scent. Those simple moments in the sun and in the rain were those that had found their way into the recesses of her mind. She wanted to find herself back in Mystic Falls and to jog through the streets and the woods near the cemetery. She wanted to feel the new season caressing her again. To be free, out in the open road and to look upon the sky again. That seemed more and more distant now. She didn't believe that she would get out of this cell ever again.

She didn't know what they wanted from her. She didn't know what she has done to them in order to kidnap her and throw her in this place that was sucking all life present.

In the time she had spent here she came to the conclusion that it couldn't be anything that had to do with her. So it had to be her parents. Both of her parents were publicly known for fighting vampires so this had to be it. But in any case this didn't change the fact that no matter the reason she was dumped in this hell. And from the looks of it no one was going to help her.

She was completely numb and lost in her thoughts when she heard the door of the cell opening.

She didn't even care to look at that direction. All she wanted was to be left alone in her misery.

But then two steady hands found their way under her body. They lifted her up and she blinked surprised. She was so frozen inside that she didn't even feel fear. Then she looked up and saw that those hands belonged to the man that had fed her and gave her water.

Her eyes were now used to the dark and she could she her jailer clearly.

Her gaze found his and for a moment she thought that she saw sympathy in it but then the chain that held her captive rattled and his look changed again. It turned cold and empty.

He made her lean against the wall. She was unsteady and her feet could barely keep her up.

She was about to let herself fall on the floor again when he ordered her.

"Lean against the wall and try to stand up."

His voice held no emotion and she ironically smiled. She indeed _smiled_.

"And if I don't?" she asked.

She didn't know how she found the strength to provoke her torturers and yet she did it. It was nice actually. It showed her that her real self the one that was independent and somewhat strong was still there. Underneath all the despair she was still there. Or maybe she just didn't care of what was going to happen to her anymore.

"Then I will have to chain you up to the hanger," he told her and pointed with his eyes at a chain with a hook that was hanging from the ceiling. She hadn't noticed this particular chain before but then again this place had no light and had so many chains that it wasn't such a surprise she had missed it. If he were to chain her up there then she would probably be left hanging from the ceiling like a piece of meat.

She didn't say anything. She just glared at him and she stood up straighter.

Then three girls came inside.

All of them scantily dressed. Their bodies wrapped in short sheer rags that left nothing to imagination. She gulped as she saw puncture wounds on their bodies. They were barefoot and seemed pale.

Her breathing became shorter as she saw that one of them brought with her a metal trolley. Over it there were soaps, sponges, a bottle of shampoo and towels. She was surprised with this and yet suspicious.

Her eyes bugged out when she saw the girls kneeling on the dirty floor and keeping their heads bowed down.

The guard left them for a moment and returned with a hosepipe.

"You've got to be kidding me," she grunted between her teeth.

The guard left the hose on the floor and came near her. He turned her around and unchained the cuff from her left wrist. She almost screamed with pleasure as she felt her hands falling on her sides. Her right wrist was still handcuffed to the chain that was connected to the wall but at least now she could move and use her hands again.

After her hands being tied behind her back for so long she could feel her joints hurting really badly and both of her arms felt like they weighted more than a ton each. When she could finally move them again she rubbed her shoulders trying to warm herself a little bit for the first time after all these days. She then rubbed her free wrist with her still handcuffed hand and she finally felt like her circulation there was somewhat restored. At least to her now free hand. She moaned at the feeling.

The guard turned to the girls and told them.

"You have 20 minutes."

He then looked at her and pointed his finger as a warning.

"Don't do anything stupid," he threatened her.

Seriously though what could she do when she was still chained to a freaking wall?

Then he took out of his jacket a flash light and switched it on. He placed it on the trolley pointed at her. The first flash of light made her eyes hurt but at last there was some light in this dark damp hole. She looked down at her body and saw how dirty she exactly was. The sight disgusted her.

The guard left but left the door open. All three girls got up and moved around. They seemed like ghosts.

The one girl took a pair of scissors out of the cart and she took a step back.

"What are you doing with that?" she asked looking at the scissors and backing away scared.

All girls remained silent. Two of them approached her and held her still. She saw the other coming near her with the scissors.

She struggled when she saw the blades opening but the two other girls held her by her upper arms. They weren't that strong but she was exhausted so they could retain her.

"Wait! What are you doing?" she yelled at the girl that was approaching.

She didn't get any answer but she saw the sharp metals moving closer and closer to her. She tried to move back but before she could even yell to the girl again the scissors had cut the one strap of her bra.

She was taken aback when the girl cut the other strap too and then the front of her bra in the middle. The torn cloth fell on the dirty floor in pieces.

She was too weak and startled to react.

Before she could understand what was going on her panties fell on the floor at the same state.

She was now standing completely bare in front of these girls and tears fell from her face. Not only she didn't know if they were to give her anything else to wear again but also those underwear where the last thing she possessed. The last thing that belonged to her.

She stared at the torn dirty underwear feeling like her last shield was taken away from her. She owned nothing in this place anymore. Not even her dignity.

The girls let her go and more tears fell from her eyes. She didn't even make a move to cover herself from them. Through her teary eyes saw that the girls moved towards the trolley and blinked confused when she saw that all of them had tattoos on their back shoulders. Tattoos that looked the same. Before she could see them better cold water was been thrown at her with extreme force and she yelped. The girl that had cut her underwear was now holding the hosepipe against her. Water was bursting out of it and was hitting her skin almost bruising her. It was really cold but was also rejuvenating her.

The two other girls next to her ignored the water that was wetting them too and started cleaning her up. Both of them had a bar of soap and a sponge in their hands and kept rubbing her skin causing foam to appear. Bits of mud and dirt mixed with the soap trailed her body as water constantly rained on her. The girls kept scrubbing her hard. Her hands, her under arms, her back, her legs. They kept scrubbing her continuously with the soaps and the sponges and even though she wanted to stop them from touching her, the feeling of being cleansed was one that she couldn't resist. She yearned to feel clean again. She shut her eyes as they kept lathering her body and tried to put out of her mind that she was still chained on a wall inside a dungeon and was being washed and scrubbed down like she was a horse or something. It was obvious that they wanted to break her spirit. Everything they have done to her so far had one goal. To make her feel less than a human. Or maybe this is how they perceived humans to be. In each case they have achieved it.

She felt the girl on her left scrubbing her breasts and the other her ass and she bit her lip. She wasn't a shy person. She used to be a cheerleader and she had changed in front of the girls of her team plenty of times and had washed many times also at the shower cubicles in her school where all her squad was going but this was so different. This felt degrading and dirty.

What was making her feel even worse was the unsettling emotion she was feeling again. There were times in that cell that she could swear that someone was watching her. Moments like this one right now. Cold moments that were turning her blood into ice. And yet only her and the three girls were in there and no one else. She supposed that she was turning paranoid and with a good excuse. She was a prisoner in hell. No wonder she felt like that. And yet that foreign emotion was really intimidating.

When she felt the hand of one of the girls moving down to clean her most private parts she opened her eyes and instantly took the soap from her hand. The girl nodded and let her clean herself on her own. She scrubbed herself hard down there remembering how she had peed herself and the tears that sprang from her eyes at that memory disappeared under the icy water that was being splashed over her. She kept laving the soap over her body trying to wash out not only the dirt that the cell and her piss had left upon her skin but also inside her soul. Soon enough the water that was falling from her body stopped looking blackish and turned just soapy.

Then one of the girls, the brunette one, poured some shampoo on her matted hair and started washing them hard. She winced as she felt pain on her head. Obviously there must have been a wound there, from when they hit her head on the car window, but with her hands cuffed behind her back for so long she was unable to touch it. Her hand shot up and touched the skin that was burning her and indeed she felt dried blood on it. Soon her hair felt more like tangled wet curtains falling on her shoulders and less than a dirty stinky mess. She inhaled sharply and realized that the scent of the shampoo was the one she was using at home too. _Lavender and lilac_. She cringed at the thought that this couldn't be a coincidence.

After a while and after a lot of shampoo and a lot of scrubbing she felt like she was finally all clean again.

The girl that held the hosepipe closed the water and then brought her a towel. She was dripping all over like a drenched cat and she thought that she was going to die from the cold.

She dried herself and then covered her body with the towel as the girl with the red hair and the countless bites on her body used another towel to dry her wet hair.

The floor seemed more of a dirty lake to her now. Her torn underwear has disappeared underneath.

Both girls that washed her were now as wet as she was. The see through garments they wore were stuck on their bodies. They were practically naked since the clothes became practically invincible now that they were wet.

They gave her a comb and she tried to untangle her hair which was proving to be quite hard.

They abruptly took the towels away but before she could panic at the idea of being left completely naked they gave her a near pair of underwear. They were almost identical with those that she wore before. But those were covering less skin and they were clean and brand new. She knew that those wouldn't last long in here either but she was feeling better knowing that at least she could cover her body, or at least part of it, with something. She just wished they could give her more clothes but from being left completely naked this would have to do. She was trying to think of it as a swimming suit. She didn't have any other choice than to think like that.

She wore the panties they gave her and then the bra. The brunette clapped the bra but since her one hand was still cuffed to the wall the one of the two straps was left hanging on the side.

"What is going on?" she asked them but they didn't give her an answer.

"What is this place?" she whispered to them but they remained silent.

She wanted to scream at them but what would be the point? They were like her. Trapped.

Eventually the guard came back in. All girls bowed their heads and kneeled again; they didn't seem to care that they were kneeling over the dirty water and they remained at that position while they kept their eyes on the ground. Those that were wet and completely exposed didn't seem to mind but if she had to be honest the things they were wearing weren't covering anything in the first place.

"Leave," he said dismissively to the girls and they immediately got up, bowed down again and scurried away.

Then he came to her and unlocked the chain from the handcuff on her hand.

"What do you want from me, why am I here?" she asked him. Her tone begging him for answers.

He didn't say anything.

She resigned and wore the bra strap that she couldn't before and then he took her free hand and cuffed it with the other again. This time her hands were tied in the front. She looked at the handcuffs and at her raw wrists with tearful eyes but she refused to let the tears fall in front of the vampire.

He then turned her around and before she could even protest he had her blindfolded.

She heard steps and then a low whistle. She almost jumped and felt nauseous at the thought that someone was now looking at her exposed body and enjoying the sight. She was completely helpless. Anything could happen. And that sound was definitely threatening.

"Hot little stuff isn't she?" a man said and she instinctively took a step back in fear. As she heard that man's laughter she felt small and so weak.

"Take her to Lord Klaus," the guard she knew said and then pushed her some steps in front of him.

She couldn't see anything and that intensified her fear. Then on top of that they put a hood on her head. Her face was not completely covered with a bag. Her breathing became labored.

"Come on sugar," the unknown man said to her as he grabbed her by her upper arm and brought her close.

She shrieked when he whistled some more. He only laughed harder at her reaction and dragged her with him.

She tried to resist but it was of no use.

Something told her that things were about to take a turn for the worse.

* * *

He was holding a black chess piece in his hands. The King. It was always the King. He let it go and took a simple pawn. An expendable pawn that in a chess game he would use as collateral damage. Sometimes even the pawns had their own worth. A purpose to fulfill.

The room's temperature was below 10 °C. He now enjoyed what all other vampires enjoyed. Cold. Ice. Frozen breath. His werewolf side craved for heat but in the last months his vampiric side was growing stronger. And now he had banished all warmth. He longed for coldness.

Normally he would set the temperature even lower but he was now expecting his guest of honor to arrive. The environment would have to be tolerable for her to bear.

He smirked and went to his desk. He finally closed the screen of his laptop. There were hidden cameras inside the cell where Caroline Forbes had been kept and he had watched her a few times these past days with interest. As it was expected she was slowly breaking down and they were only in the beginning.

He was excited to know that he could finally cause pain to the man that had killed his brother. At first he wanted to kill the General but then he realized that his death wouldn't be enough. He wanted him to suffer. He wanted him to feel what hell felt like. And what better way to do that than to destroy his beloved only child.

Caroline would be the one to pay for her father's sins. She would suffer and when he was done with her he would sever her head and send it to her father along with the documents of her suffering and humiliation. He was recording everything. Each and every degrading moment Ms. Forbes has lived in that cell was now saved in his hard drive. And he would document each and every new moment of pain and degradation she would endure in his hands until the end of her life. _Which would soon come._

He smirked at that. He remembered his old days in Rome and in medieval France. He has learned some of his best tricks there. Tricks he would love to share with this beautiful girl that was now at the mercy of his hands. The only thing that she would soon come to realize was that he had no mercy.

He was definitely going to enjoy this. Now that she was about to be delivered to him he couldn't wait. His hands touched his laptop almost reverently, his whole body thrumming with excitement of what was about to follow. Minutes ago his computer's screen had offered him a perfect view of Caroline as the servants stripped her and washed her milky enticing skin. He had to admit that the last 3 years had been more than kind to her. If possible she was even more beautiful than he remembered.

.

.

_**May 2010. Mystic Falls.**_

.

.

_He was feeling uncomfortable into the body of a human but it was worth it. He couldn't believe his own eyes when he saw her. The same olive skin and doe eyes. The same brown hair. Yes she was the one he was searching for. He had found the doppelganger at last._

_He was glad he had possessed Alaric Saltzman's body because he finally saw Elena._

_He has waited for more than 5 centuries for her arrival. He didn't think it was possible. After Katerina turned into a vampire and escaped with his brother he believed that he had forever lost his chance to create his own race. And yet Elena Gilbert was here. She was alive and she was the spitting image of __Iona. She had the same face Tatia had. She was Katerina's replica and her descendant. Her blood was the solution. _

_He had to activate her doppelganger gene so he had to repeat the same ritual he did with her ancestor. His werewolf side wouldn't be affected but Elena's blood would change. Its potency would change. Her blood would be the key into making his hybrid army. He already had the potion that would bring her back to life and turn her into the perfect blood source for him._

_Unfortunately Katerina had interfered and warned her and now the Salvatore brothers were determined to make sure that their precious Elena would stay safe and keep her life as she knew it._

_He would have already taken her away if it wasn't for Stefan._

_Stefan didn't remember him but he was his friend. As his friend he was willing to spare him some time. He didn't take Elena away the moment he found out her existence because his old friend was infatuated with her. Of course he also was buying his time. Everything had to be perfect and time was the best ally in situations like this one._

_He couldn't understand how Stefan could have fallen for a human but he knew the Petrova allure. He had felt the pull with Tatia and it almost destroyed him. His brother had felt the same need with Katerina and had betrayed their brotherhood. And now the Salvatore brothers had both fallen for Elena._

_He could understand but he was done playing._

_Mikael was finally dead. He was planning to return Stefan's memories back anyway. So fortunately when all was said and done Stefan would remember the old days and would serve him as his most trusted comrade. They would take Elena with them. He could have her if he wanted to as long as he had access to her blood and as long as she bore children with the male servants of his court. Stefan could keep his beloved Elena in that way if he wished. As long as her blood was his and the Petrova line was ensured he could be generous with his old friend._

_For now though he had to see her. He had to see Elena. And so he did. He was amazed. He could finally be the man he was meant to be. He has been denied of his right to procreate his own kind by his mother thousands of years ago and then he had half of his nature bound 1000 years ago. He had broken the curse that bound his werewolf side with Katerina 500 years ago but thanks to his dear brother Elijah he was unable to complete his deepest desire. To create more hybrids like him. To be able to walk amongst creatures that would feel what he felt, would crave what he wanted, would need what he desired. It was finally time to make things right._

_He was lost in his thoughts, walking at the high school's corridor between all these ignorant teenagers, and for the first time after thousands of years he didn't notice his surroundings and he stumbled over someone. He was in a human body but that was no excuse._

_The person that had fallen on him was shorter so when he lowered his eyes he met a golden halo. A sweet smell of lavender and lilac surrounded him like a cloud._

_Green eyes met his and for a moment he was stunned. _

_She was breathtaking. _

_A sweet beautiful girl. She couldn't be older than sixteen but he was coming from old ages. Back in his time a girl at the age of sixteen was not a child. She was already a full grown woman._

_And the woman he had in front of him was a vision._

_He wasn't like his brother Kol or like most of the vampires of his court. When he liked a woman he would take her in his bed and then possible drain her but it has been a long time since he has seen such beauty. A woman capable of awakening the hunter in him._

"_Mr. Saltzman I am so sorry," the girl apologized. She had just crashed over her 'history teacher' after all._

_Her sweet voice felt like the siren's song. It was calling him closer._

_He didn't say anything. He just stared at her. If things were different he would be snatching her away right now. Maybe he would even be tempted to relive with her his former days of procuring and having a slave. Gods only knew that he hadn't done that for centuries. And now a perfect candidate was standing right in front of him. He could only imagine everything he could do to her._

_Her firm body was wrapped inside a tight cheerleading uniform and he almost growled with lust._

_He kept looking at her intently and soon enough he saw her blushing. He was certain that she couldn't figure out why he was watching her like that but he could also tell that she could feel danger. He could hear her heartbeat speeding up._

"_It is okay sweetheart," he said and felt bad for now knowing her name._

_She hesitantly nodded confused and tried to move passed him but he blocked her way. She looked at him surprised and he was about to take a step forward. _

_He knew that his priority was the doppelganger but maybe he could have a taste from this beauty. Just a small taste. He couldn't leave any traces behind him and he didn't want to raise any suspicions or alert anyone. Especially not now that he was so close at getting what he wanted. _

_Besides he didn't want to cause her any major damage or kill her even. It would be a pity to kill someone as beautiful as her. Beauty was meant to be cherished, worshipped even. Taking away such blooming grace from the world would be a crime even he could not commit. At least not as long as youth was part of her._

_All he wanted was a taste. Just one small minimal taste of her. The allurement was so intense that he was founding himself unable to resist._

_But he would compel her to forget. He didn't want her to forget him or to part ways so soon but she would forget him when he was done with her._

_He regretted not being in his body though. He wouldn't be having the same fun with this one._

_But as he was about to grab her he heard the voice of his doppelganger coming from just around the corner._

"_Caroline?"_

_Caroline turned her head towards the voice. Elena's voice._

_Caroline?_

_He had read the reports about Elena. She had a friend called Caroline. This girl was Elena's friend?_

_Before Caroline could even turn her head back to him he had disappeared from her presence. He couldn't risk it. She was too close to the doppelganger and it was not time to make stupid mistakes just because a beautiful girl came along his way. _

_But her name kept ringing in his ears._

_Caroline? The name definitely suited her._

_._

_._

He smirked at the irony.

He had forgotten about her after sacrificing Elena. There had been some fleeting moments where he had considered paying sweet Caroline a visit, even taking her with him, but after the ritual all he cared about was creating his hybrids.

Caroline soon escaped his mind. And now here he was again.

Soon she would become his. In a few hours she would belong to him completely. Maybe not for the reasons he initially wanted her but that wouldn't stop him from combining his need for revenge with his need for her body. And after seeing her now he could tell that he still wanted her. Even more than before. She had ripened in all the right places.

If only her presence here didn't fill him with such wrath and rage. She would be the first one to pay. Others would soon follow. But she would be the first.

He twirled the polished chess piece between his fingers and looked straight at it in a way that if it was possible it would combust and explode in flames.

.

.

_**June 2011. Chicago.**_

.

.

_The witch had her eyes closed and was whispering in Latin._

_Klaus was impatiently watching her and waiting for her answer. _

_Kol on the other hand was sitting on a chair looking bored as usual. He was slowly drinking blood from a glass and even he made sure not to provoke Klaus today. He always loved enraging his brother but the last days he had restrained himself. The last thing he wanted was to find himself with a dagger in his heart like Mikael did._

_The candle flames roared and the witch opened her eyes that now looked all white inside. _

"_Now we are talking," Kol said as he sensed the witch's powers all around him as well._

_Klaus put his hands on the table and carefully looked at the witch. Blood was falling from her nose, her eyes had turned to normal but she wasn't speaking._

"_TELL ME!" he roared._

_The witch looked at him silently._

"_Darling now is not the time to play with my brother. Not if you wish to keep your heart in your chest anyway," Kol told her._

"_Elena Gilbert cannot be found," the witch cryptically said._

"_You heard the witch brother. She is dead," Kol told him._

"_She didn't say that," Klaus said as his eyes turned gold and he smashed the table in front of him in a rage. Elena Gilbert had staged her death. He was certain._

_The witch stood still._

"_What is dead cannot be found, right witch?" Kol asked the woman that was standing in front of him._

_Klaus grabbed the witch from her neck._

"_She is alive isn't she?" he shouted at the woman that was still remaining silent._

"_Easy Nik, she won't give you any answers without a head," Kol told him amused._

"_And dead she will be if she doesn't start talking! Is the doppelganger alive?" Klaus inquired as he tightened his fingers around the witch's neck. He knew that in any other case she would be trying to use her powers against him but he had her daughter. And a mother always protected her child. _

"_She doesn't belong to the realm of the living anymore," the witch mumbled under his hold but Klaus didn't let her go._

"_See, dead. Can we go now Nik? I am bored," Kol said tiredly._

"_I want a clear answer witch. NOW!" Klaus told the witch while Kol rolled his eyes._

"_We don't have all day darling, answer the damn question," Kol said agitated this time._

"_You promised protection, for my child," the witch implored Klaus._

_Klaus let her go and his whole body language changed. He relaxed and smiled at the witch. Kol smirked at that. _

"_Tell me sweetheart," he gently asked her this time._

_The witch sighed. _

"_The spirits are on her side. There is silence around her and a spell to hide her," the witch told him._

_Klaus's eyes darkened but then the witch hastily added._

"_I cannot break the spell, the spirits protect her. But she is not dead. She is not alive either, I…I don't know," she told him in fear._

_Klaus smiled reassuringly at her. _

"_That is okay sweetheart, I do," he said. Now all he wanted was to get Elena in his hands and make her pay._

_Before the witch could even blink Klaus had shoved his hand in her chest. Her eyes shot open in surprise while Kol laughed._

"_Give my mother a message," Klaus told her as he wrapped his fingers around the woman's heart._

"_For each day she hides Elena from me I will be taking the life of a witch," he said in an eerie tone. He slowly crashed her heart in his hand as her eyes bugged out._

"_Your daughter comes next," he whispered in her ear as he tore her heart of her chest._

_The witch's body fell on the floor and Klaus threw the bleeding crushed heart over it. _

_Kol looked at the corpse. _

"_Well I have warned her," he said and looked at his brother. _

_Klaus's eyes had turned golden and at that moment Kol knew that Klaus would keep his word. If Elena Gilbert was not returned to him dead or alive he would eradicate each and every witch from the face of the earth._

"_Don't start a war with the witches," he told him serious._

"_Go to Mystic Falls and find where the Gilbert boy is!" Klaus ordered his brother._

.

.

This was one of the last times he ever saw Kol. That day he had set in motion something he would forever regret. Something he would make sure that General Forbes would forever regret also.

He crashed the chess piece in his hands. Black dust run through his fingers.

Finally he was going to make his enemies pay. Starting now. _With her._

* * *

The crude vampire kept dragging and she lost her step more times than she could count. She didn't know where he was taking her and she couldn't see anything since they had blindfolded her again. But she could hear. She could hear people crying and moaning. At some point she even thought she heard the sound of whipping and then more screaming. She wanted to vomit. What was this place? Obviously it must be some sort of prison and there were many like her sharing the same awful fate (or one even worse) she had for all these days. Days? Was it really that much? She couldn't really tell.

At some point the vampire pushed her in front and she could tell that her feet were not touching stone anymore. Wood maybe? She heard some noises and then she felt the floor underneath her feet shake a little. They were in an elevator. It must be going up she thought and realized that they had kept her in a basement all this time. She was indeed buried underneath the earth she thought.

He grabbed her arm again and she struggled.

"Where are you taking me? Let me go!" she shouted at him through the hood on her head as he kept dragging her along.

"Silence or I'll gag you," he told her coolly.

His hold on her arm became tighter and she whimpered she remained silent. It wouldn't do her any good if they gagged her too.

She heard doors opening and then the floor beneath her skin felt really smooth and slippery. And then her toes touched soft carpet.

The man then threw her over his shoulder and she screamed in surprise. She could tell he was climbing up stairs. She tried to move but she felt his slimy palm caressing her thigh and travelling up so she forced herself to stay still. She heard the man laugh again.

Finally he put her down and let her stand on her feet. He held her by the handcuffs on her hands and dragged her behind him. She felt pain as the metals dag in her wrists more.

They were walking and taking turns and walking some more. And then finally they stopped.

"She is here to see Lord Klaus," the man that held her said.

He was obviously talking to someone else.

"Wait here," another male voice said.

After some minutes she heard the familiar sound of …high heels.

"He shall receive her, you can go," the woman said.

The man that held the handcuffs let her go and she heard him leaving.

A gentle hand this time touched her shoulder and she practically jumped. The same hand removed the hood from her head.

"Please come along," a woman said to her and gently moved her by her shoulder.

She didn't have a choice than to follow. She was handcuffed, blindfolded and only in her underwear; She didn't know where she was or how many vampires where in this place. Her logic told her to do as she was told until she found a way to escape. She had to find a way to get out of here one way or another.

But meeting this Lord Klaus was a terrifying prospect. A Lord? Seriously?

He must be the one that had her kidnapped she thought and her insides fell like they were in fire. If she was right then he was the one that put her in that dungeon too! She felt so much rage at that moment.

She followed the woman that kept a gentle hold on her arm and before she knew it she heard the sound of doors opening.

"Step in," the woman told her and gently pushed her forward.

She took some uncertain steps and heard the doors closing behind her.

* * *

As the doors closed behind her complete silence enveloped her. She didn't dear move or speak because no matter the silence she could feel the presence of another person near her. She could feel a pair of eyes inspecting her. She had never felt like that before in her life. It was a dangerous emotion that made her skin crawl. Although in retrospection she had felt the exact same emotion at certain times when she was at the cell. Like someone, a certain someone, was watching her. And she was feeling it right now again.

She didn't know where she was now but this place was really cold. But the shivers she was feeling were not due to the low temperature of the room but at the sense of danger all around her.

She gulped and tried to remain calm.

Her hands were still handcuffed in the front so she cautiously picked them up in an effort to remove the blindfold from her eyes.

But as her fingers touched the scratchy material two hands gently held her hands and lowered them down again.

She instinctively tried to take a step back but those hands held her in place. She trembled with fear even though those unknown hands were not hurting her and yet right now she was feeling more terrified than when she was chained in the dungeon.

She could tell that those hands belonged to a male as he slowly caressed the length of her arms from her bound wrists up to her shoulders. He followed the line of the straps of her bra with his fingers and she froze completely.

"Don't," she whispered and for the first time true weakness showed in her tone.

Those hands didn't stop. The man moved them upwards and she felt his fingers caress the skin of her neck. They lingered there and his thumb pressed at her pulse point. She stopped breathing completely as his long fingers wrapped around his neck circling her throat completely. He applied pressure there and for a moment she felt fear. She was certain that this man was a vampire. He could crash her throat or break her neck in an instant.

Her heart rate picked up and then he let her neck go and she felt his face settling at the crook of her neck. He fisted her still wet hair and she heard him breathing deeply. She stayed immovable as a statue.

As he expelled his breath he gently untied the blindfold and removed the cloth from her eyes in a slow motion.

She blinked but only for a moment before her gaze was locked with a cold blue one.

In front of her was standing a man. Dressed in black. He was tall with short dirty blond hair. Broad shoulders and deep blue penetrating eyes. He had a stubble and all his lips had a deep inviting color.

He was standing in front of her. Inches away and she couldn't look away from his oceanic colored gaze.

She was terrified of what he might do and she felt trapped and helpless. He was standing so close that she could swear she could feel heat emanating from his muscular body and seeping into her ice cold flesh.

She felt the world spinning around them. She felt faint and she almost lost her balance but his hands held her by the shoulders and steadied her.

"Who are you?" she whispered with fear as she kept watching him almost mesmerized.

He smirked and his penetrating gaze traveled slowly over her half naked body taking in every detail.

She blushed and his smirk got wider. He let her go and took a step back as he continued to watch her appreciatively.

She didn't have anywhere to hide and she knew it was pointless so she tried to stand motionless.

He smiled and then looked at her eyes.

"Let me introduce myself," he said "I am Niklaus Mikaelson and it is a pleasure meeting you," he said with grace.

She gritted her teeth. _Pleasure?_ Sure for such a sadistic monster like him this would be quite the pleasure.

There was no nobility in him. No man with an ounce of kindness would kidnap her, lock her in a dungeon and treat her they way she was treated the last days.

No man with a sense of honor would have her bound and would inspect her like she was a prostitute or something.

But he wasn't a man she though. He was a monster. A vampire. And she was helpless against him.

"Why am I here?" she said as she stared up at him.

He looked intently at her but she didn't avert her eyes.

"All in good time Caroline," he said and she felt like she was going to scream. Her name didn't belong to his lips and she didn't belong here either!

"Seriously? You have kidnapped me! You have been treating me horribly for God knows how long and you won't tell me what it is that you want from me? Who the hell do you think you are!" she yelled at him and she felt rage blinding her as she saw his mocking gaze.

"I am the person who decides your fate now sweet Caroline," he said nonchalantly "so I would suggest to lower your tone and to try to contain yourself," he ordered her.

"You have NO RIGHT to tell me what to do! LET ME GO!" she yelled at him, this time even louder, as her eyes filled with unshed tears.

A slow humorless smile curved on his seemingly angelic face.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked him desperately when she realized that he wasn't going to give her any answers and he certainly wasn't planning to let her go.

He ignored her and turned his back on her. She saw him going to a wooden installed bar and pouring himself a drink. He took his time and through her teary eyes she finally noticed that she was in a very big room. An office.

The lights were dim and there were heavy wooden furniture all around. Elegance and darkness. Dark colors, floors made of wood and marble columns decorated the massive space. Paintings hung on the walls along with heavy bookcases.

Black and gold were the prominent colors and heavy curtains were covering all the windows. She couldn't tell what time it was. Day or night. No natural light was entering this place. She noticed that the only exits were the doors behind her and probably the windows that where hidden behind the heavy curtains. She wouldn't make it. Not with the guards outside the doors and with him in here.

She was also really cold. The room was freezing cold and she was still somewhat wet from the "bath" they gave her with the hosepipe at the dungeon.

She stood still when she noticed that next to a leather black sofa with big pillows there was a small table with candles, champagne, strawberries, chocolate and roses.

She felt nauseous as she could only hope that those things were not meant for her. God she really had to get out of this place!

At the same moment even if she didn't want to the sight of food made her stomach growl from hunger and thirst.

When she averted her eyes from that table she saw that his eyes were once again inspecting her, like she was a bug under the microscope, while he was slowly sipping his drink.

"I understand you are upset and I feel the need to apologize Ms Forbes. I have to admit that the conditions that led to our meeting were indeed not that civil" he said with false politeness.

She gazed upon his beautiful features with fury.

"Why am I here, what do you want from me?" she asked again with impatience.

He drank his scotch slowly.

"For starters I would like you to answer some questions," he told her.

"And if I don't?" she challenged him.

"No reason to be difficult love, not to mention it is quite pointless," he said with ease.

She remained silent.

"Do you know who I am sweetheart?" he asked.

"You said that you are Niklaus Mikaelson," she said with irony, but she kept watching him with caution.

Her heart rate picked up as she noticed that his gaze momentarily glinted with anger.

"No, I don't know who you are or what it is that you want. Isn't this obvious?" she quickly replied with impatience.

"Do you know _what I am_ then?" he asked as his dark gaze roamed all over her body causing her to feel extremely uncomfortable.

"A vampire," she spat.

"Half way there sweetheart," he said amused and she looked at him surprised.

"Obviously you know about vampires," he said as he finished his drink.

"But I am a different kind of monster," he told her with delight and she swallowed hard.

"I've got some vampire. Some wolf, a hybrid," he said proudly.

She looked at him confused. She had never heard about something like that before.

"What does this have to do with me?" she asked with fear.

"You and I are going to spend a lot of time together. I believe it is only fair for you to know who and _what_ your_ host_ is," he playfully said to her as he took some steps towards her. At the same moment she took some steps back and she saw him smirking.

She knew that she didn't stand a chance against him and yet she couldn't help herself from acting like this. She had to find a way to get out of this place. Away from him!

"A –lo-t of …tim-e?" she stuttered terrified.

His smile grew and his eyes turned darker.

"Yes love, you and I are going to spend some quality time together," he said and she could see that he was feeding on her fear.

"Why?" she asked yet again with a trembling voice that made her fear apparent.

_"I have chosen you,"_ he simply said.

* * *

x

x

**Author's notice:**

*Forgive the delay but I postponed the update because I had to outline the whole story again. With the previous format the chapters were ending up too long and I hardly doubt that having a chapter of 60.000 words would be such an joy for the reader. So now the story will have more chapters that I originally planned. This is why "Miles to go before we sleep" has two parts.

* No beta.

*I didn't believe it when I saw the response the first chapter had. I am amazed and eternally grateful. Thank you!

* I now also have a tumblr account under the username "shadywriting". That blog is solely dedicated to this story and will be used mostly as an archive for Sanguis Vita Est (announcements, story facts, previews and teasers, etc). The url is on my profile if anyone is interested.

* Tell me what you think about the chapter.


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